got ethical husbandry?

Nitrate at .2

L

L/B Block

Supporting Member
BARcard
Well i was a bit surprised to find my nitrate at .2 after testing after a couple of months. Probably due to my faux algae scrubber aka all the algae in my sump.

With the recent addition of my kalk doser -I have shut down the refugium light and the algae is disappearing really quickly.

Little surprised as I do feed heavy. PO4 is at .5

Do I wait and see if nitrate comes back up by itself or do I give it a kick in the pants with some nitrate solution?

Any input on this? TIA.
 
derek_SR said:
What do you consider feeding heavy? And how many fish do you have?
Click to expand...
I am feeding in phyto, oyster feast, ROE, and artic pods in a total of 6 feedings a day (sometimes certain things are dosed same time) plus avast marine reef jerky 3x a day.
This all done consistently due to the doserator I built to hold refrigerated liquids

Nitrates used to come in 15-20.
Currently 9 fish.
 
Coral reefer said:
Most foods raise phosphates more than nitrates ime
If you believe that reading you are close to trouble. Might want to raise it a bit
Click to expand...
Will test again later again today/tomorrow -If really low -I’ll take action. I think it’s been like this for a bit but I concur -could lead to disaster
 
L/B Block said:
Well i was a bit surprised to find my nitrate at .2 after testing after a couple of months. Probably due to my faux algae scrubber aka all the algae in my sump.

With the recent addition of my kalk doser -I have shut down the refugium light and the algae is disappearing really quickly.

Little surprised as I do feed heavy. PO4 is at .5

Do I wait and see if nitrate comes back up by itself or do I give it a kick in the pants with some nitrate solution?

Any input on this? TIA.
Click to expand...

Careful turning off the fuge light, there was a balance of algae growing in the sump and now that you have completely turned it off, chances are algae will start growing elsewhere.

I would have suggested starting my cutting fuge lighting time by a quarter or half first.
 
I had done that initially and it didn’t really make a dent. So I went hardcore.

Not worry about algae on the rocks thanks to my awesome clean up crew. I do have some nasty algae on the back wall I need to contend with though that popped up while I was gone the last time.

On the whole corals are looking ok. Couple acros bleached out but would like to get chemistry back in balance. Fun never stops!
 
Recent photo..
 

Attachments

  • IMG_0604.jpeg
    IMG_0604.jpeg
    109.7 KB · Views: 59
It’s common to have high P and low N. Feeding more of what caused the imbalance won’t fix it. Many people including myself need to supplement nitrate for this.
 
Point taken on that. I think all the massive algae in the sump consumed it. Prior to that NO3- not an issue- Now that it is disappearing (lights off) - rhetoric question -does nitrate come back or need supplement for this temporary or permanently..
 
  • Like
Reactions: JVU
If stuff dies (like the algae not getting light) then N and P will be generated. As far as the change to the balance (high P, low N) I don’t know for sure but I’d guess you’ll still have the issue once the levels settle down again.
 
JVU said:
If stuff dies (like the algae not getting light) then N and P will be generated. As far as the change to the balance (high P, low N) I don’t know for sure but I’d guess you’ll still have the issue once the levels settle down again.
Click to expand...
NO3 went to 1 and then I got something commercially available in the immediate time being to at least get it up to 3-4.

I was on RFH’s aquatic chemistry site and I now have the recipe for using ammonium bicarbonate that should be in place in short order. Prior to this NO3 depletion that I attribute to running the light 24/7 -it was actually a good NO3/PO3 ratio of ~12:1

Will it return to that or is permanently altered- I shall find out in due time..
 
L/B Block said:
NO3 went to 1 and then I got something commercially available in the immediate time being to at least get it up to 3-4.

I was on RFH’s aquatic chemistry site and I now have the recipe for using ammonium bicarbonate that should be in place in short order. Prior to this NO3 depletion that I attribute to running the light 24/7 -it was actually a good NO3/PO3 ratio of ~12:1

Will it return to that or is permanently altered- I shall find out in due time..
Click to expand...
Careful dosing ammonium bicarb. You could kill your fish if you overdose.
 
Darkxerox said:
Careful dosing ammonium bicarb. You could kill your fish if you overdose.
Click to expand...
I am concerned about that. Although in a back and forth thread with RFH -he said as long as I stick to the formula there is a fairly large margin before I hit that threshold.
Couple of other threads people reported that ammonia was undetected testing for it.

Big thing is -
1) don’t directly expose a fish!
2) put into sump (assuming you have one) to dilute..
 
I’ve read that foods can greatly fluctuate in N: P ratio. Silversides came in at 10:1, where as mysis was 500:1. Could try switching up the food a bit.

Edit: today I learned that we have old school emojis that you can put in posts with the right commands lol
 
Last edited:
psidriven said:
any update?

also, in case anyone wants kno3, loudwolf has 4 (4oz) bottles for $15. it's cheaper than their 2 (8oz) for $20.
Click to expand...


I have discontinued ammonium bicarbonate as my NO3 is back to around 20 without dosing.

On another -and maybe coincidence that I lost my wrasse around a week after I started. Could be other things..but still..
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top